


Arcade Kings

by lilayams



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Friendship, M/M, but in a good way, but with people who suck at making friends, jurassic park rip off, kuroo being a dramatic bitch, yamaguchi being a little shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-03-16 10:52:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13634817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilayams/pseuds/lilayams
Summary: two nerds are stuck playing an arcade game together but are both too good at it to stop playing so friendship ensues





	1. Chapter 1

“Dammit!” Kuroo pounded his fists against the claw machine that had almost grabbed his prize before being bumped to the right.

“I told you, you should’ve moved a little more to the left.”

“Yeah well, if you’re so smart why don’t you get it yourself?”

“Alright.”

Kenma then proceeded to enter two tokens into the machine. In almost robotic movements, he pinpointed the location that was necessary to grab the prize, took one more look over the claw’s placement, then pressed the bright red button that read ‘drop.’ Like he predicted, the claw was pushed slightly to the right, and grabbed Kuroo’s prize- a sort of ragged looking cat plush, from the machine.

“Dammit Kenma,” Kuroo sighed, “I was trying to prove a point that the machine was rigged!” However, he accepted the ugly cat doll with open arms.

“I think you just suck.” Kenma responded, crossing his arms.

“Should’ve known better than to challenge someone who lives the game,” Kuroo then draped his arms and legs over the claw machine and slowly slide down its side, “BREATHES, the game!”

“I’m pretty sure I don’t look like I’m about to FUCK the game.”

“Eh, just a little bit,” Kuroo teased. To which Kenma responded with a low-pitched snort, that roughly translated to, ‘why are you like this?’

“Well, I’m out of tokens,” Kuroo announced, rustling through his pockets, “I’m gonna buy some food, want anything?”

“No.”

“Cool, I’ll get you a pork bun.” Kenma scrunched his face in annoyance, allowing Kuroo to retaliate with a smug, cheeky grin.

“Don’t get lost, and remember to call me if you’re in trouble!” After Kuroo’s routine ‘mothering’ spiel, he began to walk towards the arcade’s exit.

“You’re not my mom.” Kenma called back, hoping to get the last word in.

“You’re right,” Kuroo paused dramatically and looked over his shoulder towards his friend, “I know you better.” He then, finally exited.

Kenma began to wander around the arcade- which he would definitely not get lost in, considering he frequented the place since he was seven, and knew it better than his walk back to home from school. What should he do next? He already tried out the fighting games with Kuroo, air hockey was only possible to play if there were two people present and it looked like it was already occupied, chance games were also only fun when there was a friend around to lead you towards the worst possible score. Arcade Basketball? Definitely not. Kenma already got enough exercise at volleyball practice, and not even the enticement of fake arcade currency would get him to use up more energy than he needed.  
Entering the area of the arcade with the ‘shooting’ games, Kenma’s gaze stopped at a sit-in booth.

 

* * *

 

 

“Tsukki, I thought you promised one more round of air hockey!” Two boys began to argue next to the air hockey table.

“Not after the way you chucked your paddle at me.” Tsukki, the taller blonde of the duo retaliated.

“Hey, I saw you slip a puck into my goal with your long cheater arms when I was distracted eating my fries, don’t act like you’re so innocent.” The freckled boy whined at his friend.

“Well I don’t think I have enough tokens for another game of air hockey anyways.” The two began to look around at the various games displayed.

“How about basketball?” The freckled boy asked jokingly.

“I wanted to play a game, not cheat for prizes.” Tsukki responded, with a slightly amused tone. Both of the boys were far past average height, and knew arcade basketball was an easy way to get arcade points.

“How about we play against each other in Street Fighter then? You know, for nostalgia’s sake.” Tsukki gave his friend a look completely devoid of humor. Yamaguchi had an odd talent for being able to figure out special moves in fighting games and Tsukki wasn’t up for the nearly impossible challenge of staying in a fight with him for more than ten seconds.

“One day, Yamaguchi, one day I’ll ask you to just slaughter me, but today is not that day.”

Yamaguchi laughed at his friend’s morbid humor.

The two began to wander into the arcade section that featured shooting games, where a certain booth immediately caught Tsukishima’s attention.

“Is this new?”

“Well, we haven’t been to this arcade since like, the beginning of middle school,” Yamaguchi mused, “so probably-“Yamaguchi turned towards his friend only to be met with blank space. His best friend was already making a beeline towards a rather cheesy looking sit-down shooting booth of ‘Mesozoic Rangers: Rips and Roars.’ The game booth was designed like a sit-down theater vaguely shaped like a tyrannosaurus skull. Yamaguchi began to catch up to his excited friend.

“Tsukki, I know you’re a big nerd for this dinosaur stuff and it’ll probably be a while before we get to visit this place again but could you slow dow- uh…” Yamaguchi trailed off as Tsukki entered the last of his tokens.

Tsukishima stared at his friend confused, “You don’t have to play it if you don’t want to you know. I can watch you play something after if you want.”

“Well I would but uh, Tsukki.” Yamaguchi pointed at the seat next to him.

Apparently, someone had already had entered the booth before him.

‘Rangers are you rrrready?’

And apparently that same someone had entered their tokens at about the same time.

 

* * *

 

 

Kenma did not see the other boy enter the booth- or rather he entered so fast Kenma was not given a chance to see him. It did not help that they entered their tokens at pretty much the same time. The blonde boy and his friend stared at Kenma.

“Um, I can let your friend play instead if you want.”

“Oh! No!” Yamaguchi interjected, pulling his arms up in front of himself, “I mean, you pretty much paid to play the game already so it wouldn’t be fair!” His blonde friend in the booth seemed to sit still without reaction.

“No really, if you feel guilty about it, you can just give me the same number of tokens the game costs.” Kenma offered, honestly just wanting to get out of this awkward situation.

“You wanted to play the game in the first place so you can go ahead!” Damn this kind natured stranger.

Tsukki wondered if maybe it was just him, but the boy next to him seemed just as uncomfortable about the situation. While he would be completely fine with the punk-ish looking boy to leave so Yamaguchi could play, it probably was not the polite thing to ask.

“It’s fine with me.” Tsukki spoke up. Both Yamaguchi and the bleach haired boy seemed surprised at his words.

“I know you get kind of nauseous with first person shooters, so I can meet up with you later.” Tsukki said to Yamaguchi.

“Are you sure?” Yamaguchi asked, which was a bit embarrassing. Tsukishima knew he was not the best in social situations when it came to pretty much anyone outside of Yamaguchi, but it’s not like playing a video game with someone was going to be some sort of spiritual experience. He and the boy sitting next to him would probably make it through a couple of rounds, and then leave.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Tsukki then pushed the button to enter the game, and Kenma followed.


	2. Chapter 2

This was a mistake.

Well, not the game, the game was great, and they were both doing great. In fact, they were doing amazing. That was where the mistake lay, however. Both boys had not accounted for the fact that they were both just generally good at gaming. As awkward as they felt playing with someone they’ve never met, neither of them had barely lost any health in the last four rounds of the shooter. Out of the corner of his eye, Tsukishima could see Yamaguchi giving him an apologetic look. He and his friend started to realize by the third round that it would probably be a while for him or the bleach haired boy to end the game. It did not help that the boy seemed as introverted as Tsukki. The two sat silent, surrounded by only the noise of futuristic gunshot sound effects and dinosaur screeches.

Eventually they got to the boss of level four- a stegosaurus with an eyepatch that shot missiles out of its’ back where its’ bony plates should have been. The two held out fine until they got the boss’ health down to a quarter. Suddenly a rush of mook enemies bombarded them, lowering their health more than the previous levels of the game had. However, Kenma had quickly picked up their spawning pattern.

“The left.”

“What?” Tsukki was surprised that the boy spoke up.

“They start out from the left. The smaller enemies, I mean.”

“Velociraptors.”

“What?” This time it was Kenma’s turn to be confused.

“The species of dinosaur they are. They’re velociraptors, except with, y’know, guns.”

Kenma, though confused, kept this information in mind.

* * *

 

Kuroo, back from his snack run, began to search around the arcade for Kenma. Starting out around his favorite games, then finally looking around the arcade basketball. Kenma also wasn’t picking up any texts or calls which either meant he was still in the arcade and Kuroo couldn’t find him, or he somehow went out, got lost in the middle of his city, and his phone died. While the latter did not happen often it had happened. For Kuroo, this meant resorting to drastic measures.

“Has anyone seen my boy?” Kuroo shouted out inside the arcade. While he mostly got annoyed glances from arcade goers, he caught the attention of one person in particular.

“Did you lose a child?” Kuroo looked towards a kind of scrawny looking kid with freckles, who seemed to be worried for him.

“Ah, sorry if I scared you, I’m actually just looking for my friend.” The freckled boy brought a hand up to his chest and breathed a sigh of relief, seemingly glad to hear that there wasn’t actually some lost child roaming the area.

“What does your friend look like?”

“He’s about,” Kuroo raised a flat hand to around his neck, “yea high, pretty quiet, bleached hair up to his neck.”

“Oh!” Well, obviously, this kid knew where Kenma was, “he’s with my friend Tsukki in that dinosaur shooting game.”

Kuroo put his hands on his hips, realizing it was a sit-in booth, “So that explains why I couldn’t find- wait a minute.” Kuroo stopped in the middle of his thoughts and turned quickly to look at the freckled boy with wide eyes.

“He’s playing? With someone else?”

Yamaguchi nodded his head.

“And he’s never met you or your friend before?”

Yamaguchi nodded his head once more.

Kuroo began to make his way towards the Mesozoic Rangers booth to find his friend not only completely comfortable, but also interacting with someone naturally. Kenma and Tsukki had gotten into the game, eight levels in and both of their health bars were only around the halfway mark.

“I think we can make it to ten before dying.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“Only if you’re up for it.” Kenma smiled to himself. He could not remember a time where he got so far in an arcade game with somebody else. Kuroo kind of sucked at shooters.

“Kenma!” Said boy, jumped a bit, but did not take his eyes off the screen. Tsukishima quickly glanced to the side to see a tall figure with messy hair standing at the side of the booth. Much like a cryptid, the friendly atmosphere between the pair that Kuroo had walked in on had quickly disappeared, and the two had reverted back to their usual anti-social selves, ceasing banter and keeping their attention glued quietly to the flashing arcade screen.

“I’d ask what you’re up to but it’s kind of obvious,” he flourished his hand towards the games screen, “so, you got a knew friend?”

Kenma’s mouth drew itself into a straight line, as he looked at the screen annoyed. He knew Kuroo wasn’t going to let go of this. In fact, he was probably texting Yaku about it right at that moment.

“Yaku’s not gonna believe this.” God damn it, he was completely right.

“So, kid,” Kuroo turned to Yamaguchi who looked slightly surprised by the sudden attention, “how’d this mess happen?” Kuroo pointed backwards at the shooting booth with his thumb.

After Yamaguchi’s unabridged cut of ‘my friend just really likes dinosaurs and arcade shooters, Kuroo seemed to be holding his stomach in laughter.

“And you’re telling me the two didn’t even notice each other?” Kuroo gave another loud laugh, (which honestly sounded more like a chainsaw getting revved up,) before wiping a tear from his eye, “yeah that sounds like Kenma.”

After a few more minutes of the four teens hanging by the booth, and no signs of the two boys inside losing their streak, Kuroo reluctantly spoke up.

“As much as I love seeing you make friends for once, we gotta leave. I promised Kai I’d train with him later today and I kind of doubt your sense of direction will get you anywhere close to home.” Kenma nodded in response.

“Um,” he turned to face where Yamaguchi stood quickly before turning back to the game, “do you think,” once more he made eye contact and looked back, “you could,” eye contact and looked back, “take over?” This time he turned his head towards Yamaguchi, but avoided his gaze, cheeks heating up from realizing how silly he probably looked doing this. Yet he only got hit once during the interaction. Yamaguchi was somewhat impressed.

“Oh, uh, sure!” Yamaguchi ran around the booth from Tsukishima’s side to Kenma, and the two quickly traded seats.

Before Kenma could dart away from the scene, Kuroo held him back by the back of his hoodie.

“I’m not sure if we formally met but I’m Kuroo,” he pointed to himself, “And this is my friend Kenma. Thanks for taking care of him! Maybe we’ll see you two around again?”

Being polite, Yamaugchi turned to Kuroo and introduced himself as well, “I’m Yamaguchi and this is my friend Tsukki.” Hearing his name, Tsukishima nodded his head, but did not turn to meet Kuroo or Kenma’s gaze. Kuroo couldn’t help but snicker at how such a tall boy’s demeanor could be so introverted.

“And it was no problem! See ya!” As Yamaguchi gave Kuroo and Kenma a quick wave, he returned back to the game where half of his health he had before was gone.

“Ah! Sorry Tsukki!” By not paying attention to the game, his character had begun losing health.

“It’s no problem.” Tsukishima responded, continuing to shoot the enemies diligently, although the lack of support started making the enemies build up.

“Hey Tsukki, do you think we’ll actually see those two again? You looked like you were having fun.”

“I hope not.”

Yamaguchi gave a light laugh at his friend’s indifferent response.

* * *

 

“Well now we have to go back there!” Kuroo told Kenma as the two were walking towards the train station.

“We only played for half an hour, it was nothing.”

“Nothing to you, you filthy gamer trash!” Despite the harsh nature of his words, Kuroo gave his friend a complimentary pat on the shoulder.

“You actually made a friend. Not on the team. Without me. In public?” 

Kenma shrugged at his friend's reaction, “I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of it, I’d hardly call us acquaintances-“

“But you could be! You could be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short story, but I had fun writing it! The recent Karasuno v Nekoma chapters have been giving me some momentum for these character interactions haha. Possible 3rd chapter if I'm feeling it.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this like a year ago. I have at least like 1 more chapter planned idk. I like this AU so maybe I'll write more if I really want to.


End file.
